TRT Podcast #199: How to address the needs of advanced readers – with Dr. Nancy Young
Dr. Nancy Young, creator of The Ladder of Reading & Writing infographic, explains why we need to challenge students who are advanced in reading and why research does not support the notion that they will be “just fine” regardless of their instruction. This is an important issue that deserves more attention.
Listen to the episode here
Full episode transcript
Dr. Young’s resources
- The Ladder of Reading & Writing infographic
- Climbing the Ladder of Reading & Writing: Meeting the Needs of ALL Learners book co-edited with Jan Hasbrouck
- Giftedness resources from Dr. Young’s website
Additional resources mentioned in this episode
- The National Association for Gifted Children
- The Acceleration Institute
- Failing Our Brightest Kids: The Global Challenge of Educating High-Ability Students book by Chester Finn, Jr. and Brandon Wright
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Jessica Kulynych
I found this episode very frustrating because so many dyslexic kids are also very advanced with superior cognitive abilities. On the other hand, learning to read easily is not necessarily an indicator of superior cognitive ability. So once again, the guest is perpetuating the myth that ease of reading equals advanced academic ability/potential. What is appropriate instruction for a dyslexic child with a 130 IQ? They need intensive reading instruction but they also are capable of and need academic acceleration. 2E children need to be grouped with other cognitively advanced students. The language of “way ahead” and “way behind” is devastating for these children.
Anna Geiger
Hello, Jessica!
First of all, I’m deeply sorry that it took me almost a month to get back to you. When you initially left this comment, I emailed Nancy, who was very busy and presenting overseas. She did send me a reply, but I forgot to head back here and share her comments. I’m doing that now.
Second, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I’m sorry you got the impression that Nancy believes that children with dyslexia cannot have high IQ. I can assure you that this is not her perspective. The subject of my podcast is literacy, so we focused on that and didn’t address strengths in other subjects. In doing that, perhaps I gave the wrong impression.
While Nancy may not have said this in this particular interview, she does regularly say that not all advanced readers are gifted. This is clear in Chapter 13 of her book, Climbing the Ladder of Reading and Writing.
The needs of children who are 2e are addressed in Nancy’s presentations about students who are gifted with a co-occurring exceptionality; their needs are different from advanced readers. (At the online hub for those who own the book Climbing THE LADDER OF READING & WRITING: Meeting the Needs of ALL Learners there is an “Our Take” article on this very topic.)
She also notes that there is no current research indicating that the majority of students with dyslexia are above-average intelligence. Children with dyslexia could be below-average intelligence.
You wrote this: ‘The language of “way ahead” and “way behind” is devastating for these children. ‘ I couldn’t find that exact phrasing in the transcript, so I’m not sure exactly what you’re referring to here, but this may be something that I said. I apologize if I gave the impression that students with dyslexia are way. behind in all areas; it wasn’t meant, and I will be more careful with how I communicate this in the future.